Musings of a Hopeful Author

 I am not someone who is laugh out loud funny. My humor is more in the makes you chuckle through my sarcasm, wit, or play on words. My dad was someone who could make people laugh out loud and once he got warmed up, watch out! I just don't have that knack, but that doesn't mean I don't have a good sense of humor and laugh a lot. I do - on both counts. Just not usually at my own jokes, haha. Self-deprecation? Well, that's something else and possibly the topic for another blog (that likely won't get written). So, it is with all of this in mind that I put before you an instance that took place the other evening where I was legitimately laughing (or giggling, as the case may be) at a scene I thought up in the shower after I had stopped writing for the night. Apparently the stopping place I had reached just minutes before wasn't actually the stopping place my creative mind had in store for me. No, I was stuck coming up with a scene that I found highly amusing in the o...

Anyone not familiar with the concept of the slow burn romance? If not, this should help. If so, this is still entertaining. So, I have been avoiding writing the next section in the story I'm currently working on because the series of scenes taking place require more care than most. This is where the romantic tension is turned up to the next level, but not so far as to actual start the full-on romance. This is just supposed to show the characters and the reader that there's more there than the characters want to admit or more than they want to deal with. It should be fun to write those scenes, right? I know I enjoy reading them, so they should be fun to write. Well, they're friggin' tricky! At least for me. Haha. Quick bit of back story - the first story I ever attempted to write for myself beyond kid stories, school assignments, etc. was supposed to be a slow burn romance with a historical character I had loved in a book I had just read (but disliked the fictional femal...

The short story challenge prompts for round 2 have been released! And have made me a touch anxious. Fortunately, I was able to think about them for a bit and landed upon the rough outline for a story rather quickly, which is key since I only had three days to turn out a story based on those prompts. What were the prompts? Genre: Sci-Fi Subject: Heartbreak Character: Jockey Yup. Silence met that set of prompts. Then finally, my mind kicked into gear and the creative juices started flowing. But it was a slow trickle until I was able to write with any consistency. Add to that quite a number of concept revisions and you had a bit of a panic this afternoon. How did I combat said panic? Well, I am incredibly lucky to have a small but dependable group of reviewers that help beat me into shape and provide invaluable input and feedback. Some contribute more than others, haha, but they all have their piece in the bigger picture. Afterall, it could be the most creative thing in the world, but if ...

Let me start off by saying, I am shocked that I made it to the next round of the short story challenge.  I really didn't have much confidence in my entry because the prompts were really hard! I did the best I could with what I could think of, but was it enough? I really didn't feel like it was. So, you can imagine my shock when I saw my entry listed among the top five for my group.  This is how I felt when I saw my group's finalists! And once I got over that initial shock, I was THRILLED! And I wanted to share that excitement by sharing it with my support team straight away, in spite of the hour. Sorry for the late calls and texts, but I was excited!  Then today, I received the feedback from the judges on what they liked and what they thought I could do better on this (and future) story(s). They liked my characters and saw humor in the situation, the handling of said situation, and some of the phrasing that was used to really drive it all home. I was really pleased with t...

 Yup, distracted again. BUT I think it's in a good way, haha. I mean, isn't it important to know the type of fancy conveyance being used/referenced in a scene if it's not in the normal run of things? Or is it me procrastinating in a sort of helpful way? I think we all know the answer...  So, first up is the Catalina 315.  "At just under 32 feet, the 315 feels like a much bigger boat. Little touches make significant differences. Take the split backstays for the lofty, double-spreader rig, which open up the space in a cockpit that’s already wide, workable, and ergonomically balanced. Or the extended settee in the main saloon—to starboard, opposite a spacious U-shaped settee, dining table, and galley—which wouldn’t be out of place on a boat 8 feet longer and which maximizes the interior space by doubling as the seat for the aft-facing navigation station."  - Cruising World  (for the full article: https://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/boat-review-catalina-315/) I ...

 As I mentioned in the last post, the good idea fairy is both a blessing and a curse. And I have to admit, this latest visit from that fantasy creature has left me at a bit of a loss.  I don't exactly know how I want to move forward. I had a pretty good idea at the outset, but since adding in those improvements I've gotten myself into a bit of dilemma on how to get to the end and have the outcome I want, haha. Guess I'll just have to write through it and see what happens, but so far I've been nervous about putting pen to paper. Just something about writing down the next stages makes them seem like the only path forward even though I know I can always go back and rewrite or just delete it all and start over at this same part. The problem is I can't just erase it from my mind so will I remember things that never happened in the new draft but happened in the last draft? Hopefully it won't come to that, but who knows? Only time and typed pages will tell.

 I'm sure I'm not alone in visits from the good idea fairy, many of which result in horrible ideas that cause us to expend far too much thought and effort in trying to realize the craziness thought up in those visits. And while many of those ideas lead to nothing substantial, there are those rare moments when they yield good ideas that you actually want to do something with. And thus starts the fun... sorta.  I was struck by the good idea fairy a week or so regarding a possible new plot enhancement for the story I'm currently working on and I have to say it checked a lot of boxes and helped neaten up a lot of loose ends I wasn't entirely sure what to do with just yet. BUT it also caused a bit of a dilemma in that it didn't fit the overall flow of the story as I'd envisioned it up until that point. And it also put a line I thought was going to be pretty key to climax of the story in question. So, what do I do? Do I take the net gains of adding in that new plot el...